The Vapor Brothers Hands-Free Vaporizer

Vapor Brothers (VB) was founded by two friends from Venice CA who wanted to bring an effective and practical smoking alternative to the world back in 1999. Today, the Vapor Brothers vaporizer remains as one of the best options available to vaporize dry-herbs.

The two colleagues invented the first ever “Glass on Glass” Whip® Handpiece style vaporizer that was both user friendly and healthy as well — known as the Vapor Brothers Vaporizer. It just happens to be the first vaporizer I ever owned as well; I bought mine back in 2007 and it’s still working perfectly after heavy use.

The unit is listed for $234 (though it can be found for closer to $200 elsewhere) on the company’s official retailer’s site and is offered in a “natural wood” or “coffee” color. I have used all of the “top of the line” vaporizers and none have been impressive enough to convince me they are worth twice the price of the VB. The vapor quality, simplicity of design, and ease of use make this the perfect vaporizer for anyone looking to make their first at-home vaporizer purchase.

What is the Vapor Brothers Hands-Free Vaporizer?

The Vapor Brothers hands free unit is a whip-style vaporizer, which means that it uses a long tube as a delivery system. The user inhales to draw air through the VB Natural Mineral Heater and across your herbs, vaporizing them (convection vaporizer). Since the unit does not have a fan to force the vapor through the tube, the user must inhale to produce vapor.

“The Vapor Brothers is produced in California and every unit is backed by a lifetime warranty that covers almost any problem imaginable.”

The Natural Mineral Heater is trademarked by Vapor Brothers and is the only ceramic heating element custom designed for vaporization and tested by independent laboratories. According to Vapor Brothers, there is no competition that focuses on health and safety of the end user like they do. The VB is made out of all natural materials that include clay for the heating element, wood for the housing and an all ceramic and glass whip delivery system. The hose material used to make the whip is also specially formulated for Vapor Brothers, and is free of toxic substances such as BPA, Phthalates (DEHP Free), and many more that are common to plastic tubing.

The Vapor Brothers vaporizer is produced in California and every unit is backed by a lifetime warranty that covers any problem imaginable. However, I could never see the Vapor Brothers having an issue unless you break the glass whip. The Vapor Brothers vaporizer is one of the simplest units I have used to date, and produces some of the tastiest and most dense vapor I have experienced from a vaporizer. The design is super simple and could be mistaken for a pencil sharpener on your desk. We even figured out a way to vaporize essential oils with the VB.

How To Use The Vapor Brothers Vaporizer

1. The first step in using your Vapor Brothers Vaporizer is turning the unit on so that it may take its time heating up. To do this, turn the one and only knob on the whole unit clockwise until you hear a click; this means the unit is on and a light should illuminate in the unit. Turn the knob until the white line is in the 11 o’clock position. There is actually a little notch in the wood around the dial in the spot I am referring to. At this lower temperature you will be able to get sweet tasty vapor. Once your temperature is set it’s time to prepare your herbs.
2. The Vapor Brothers hands-free unit includes a “whip” that holds your herbs for vaporizing. Grind your herbs up finely and drop them into your whip onto the screen, or suck them up like a vacuum right out of your grinder. This is the way I do it because heavier stems are left behind while all of your herbs are sucked up into the whip. Fill the bowl about 1/3 of the way full.
3. After about 4-5 minutes your VB should be preheated and you can slide the whip over the ceramic heating element. The ground glass on the whip and heating element allows the whip to fit into place without requiring someone to hold it in place during use. Once you begin vaporizing, inhale slowly from the whip and take long, deep inhales. You will feel a slight tickle or pinch in your chest when the vapor starts flowing.
4. Your herb will require some stirring after 3 or 4 inhales in order to expose different surface area (see Complaints). After stirring, we like to turn the temperature up just a bit so that the dial is in the 12 o’clock position. This provides you with dense vapor that tastes great for another few draws before your herb begins to taste like burnt popcorn.
5. To empty your whip, simply slide it off the ceramic heater and blow through the hose while pointing the whip in the trashcan (or a jar if you are trying to save up your vaped herb… not worth it in my opinion).

To use your Vapor Brothers with essential oils and concentrates, simply put a small piece of a cotton ball in the whip right on top of the screen. Next melt your oils down into the cotton ball and spread it out if you have to. Place the whip on the heating element and ensure that your cotton ball is not coming in contact with the ceramic; this will burn your oils. Set your vaporizer knob to the 10 o’clock position and vape away. The taste of your oils will really come through and a small dab will last for up to 5 or 6 solid draws of vapor.

What We Love About The Vapor Brothers Vape

The best thing Vapor Brothers has going for them is their trademarked Natural Mineral Heater. The Natural Mineral Heater is made from a dense glassy ceramic called porcelainite and was 3rd party lab verified to assure a toxic-free vaporizing experience. The cleanliness of the materials provide for a very tasty vapor that is unique to the VB.

The next best thing about this unit is the simplicity of design. This vaporizer requires no assembly and is very low maintenance. The whip can easily be disassembled and soaked in an isopropyl alcohol bath, and the heating element rarely gets dirty. In addition, the unit is completely silent and free of unwanted noise because it uses no motors.Using the unit is as easy as turning on one switch and sliding the whip into place.

“The Natural Mineral Heater is made from a dense glassy ceramic called porcelainite and was 3rd party lab verified to assure a toxic-free vaporizing experience.”

Another good thing about the Vapor Brothers is that the whip is around 4 feet long, which allows you to leave the Vapor Brothers unit in a central location and pass just the whip around like a hookah. This makes it perfect for group smoke sessions. Just make sure your drunken friend doesn’t trip over the cord causing the whole thing to fly off the table and crash to the ground. This happened to me in college, but the only thing that broke was the glass whip where it attaches to the heating element. The VB was still on and working perfectly after the accident and I just had my friend replace the whip. No biggie.

In addition, the whip can be fit into most bubblers and Vapor Brothers even sells a H20 Adapter to connect your vaporizer to a water device. Or you can buy the Brothers Deluxe Hydrator Kitthat is perfect for patients with sensitive throats and lungs.

Lastly, the Vapor Brothers vaporizer really makes a little herb go a long way. Although you can only put in a little at a time, one small pack can be passed back and forth between two people for quite some time. Especially when using the technique I mentioned above (where you adjust the temperature as you go).

My Only Complaints About The Vapor Brothers

One of the only things about the Vapor Brothers Vaporizer that could be improved upon is the heat up time. This is definitely not a good vaporizer choice for someone who is looking for a quick hit on the way out the door. It takes a good 4 to 5 minutes for the unit to be completely heated up and ready to go, and another 3-4 minutes to actually vaporize your herb. This is certainly a unit more suited for dedicated smoke sessions.

“It is a bit difficult to change the metal screen in the whip without a tool and a steady hand. Luckily, I found a helpful video made by Vapor Brothers that assists you in replacing a screen.”

The temperature knob on the Vapor Brothers allows the user to adjust for different conditions, but it could be useful to have a digital read-out so that the user can be more accurate with their vaporizing temperatures. Although once you find a spot on the temperature dial that you prefer and turn to every time, the need for a digital readout seems unnecessary. As long as you find a setting that works for you then that is all that matters. It may take a few sessions to find the setting you like best.

This vaporizer requires you to mix your herb throughout your session. However this is easy to do by just puffing into the whip and blowing the herb around while the whip is still fit over the heating element. Repeat this process by puffing in and out until you feel the herb is mixed sufficiently; you will see it spinning around in the globe. Some herb does blow down into your unit when you do this, though this has never caused a problem for me in the 6 years I have been doing it that way. If you do not want to do it that way, grab the whip by the rubber grip and stir your herb with the bamboo skewer tool Vapor Brothers provides you.

Finally, it is a bit difficult to change the metal screen in the whip without a tool and a steady hand. Luckily, I found a helpful video made by Vapor Brothers that assists you in replacing a screen. The screens are very cheap to replace and Vapor Brothers sells them as well as bamboo pick tools to assist you with the procedure. The ceramic screens are a good alternative to the metal screens, but I found that finely ground herbs will often times suck through the holes and up into your mouth. This is somewhat unpleasant.

The Perfect Vaporizer For The Health-Conscious

If you are new to vaporizing, it just makes sense to learn on a Vapor Brothers vaporizer. I would recommend this desktop vaporizer to anyone who is in search of a well made, visually aesthetic, session vape without making a huge investment.

I realize the Vapor Brothers vaporizer may not be the flashiest vape on the market, but as far as I am concerned, this is the true “OG” of desktop vaporizers and will prove its value over time. For the price of $183, you really get a lot for your investment